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I have mixed feelings after the Bahrain Grand Prix. On the one hand, it was
good to finish eighth and come away with another World Championship point,
but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed because we could have achieved
more.
If my race had gone according to plan, I would have troubled Jarno Trulli
for sixth place, which would have been a good result. My long-run pace was
similar to Jarno's throughout the weekend, but my chances of beating him
were ruined when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso collided immediately
behind me on lap two. Their shunt allowed Mark Webber - who was on a free
fuel strategy, having qualified 11th - to sneak into the points and then
passed me due to his strategic advantage.
The performance of my FW30 was also compromised during the race by a strong
wind on the back straight. We set the gear ratios for the weekend during
Friday practice, when there was less of a wind, and I found myself hitting
the rev-limiter early whenever I was in the slipstream of another car.
Despite all these niggling problems, it was a relief for everyone at AT&T
Williams to be back inside the top 10 in qualifying after the disappointment
of the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago. The improvement was mainly down
to the tyres because we experienced none of the grip problems in Bahrain
that we suffered at Sepang. I was the only driver in the top half of the
grid to start the race on the prime tyre, but I was able to run at a similar
pace to the cars on the softer option rubber during the opening stint.
Away from the racetrack, I enjoyed my time in Bahrain. I've always enjoyed
going there, since I won the GP2 Championship at the Bahrain International
Circuit in 2005, and this year was no different. My father was there too and
we stayed in the Ritz Carlton, which is a beautiful hotel and is a really
relaxing environment. The majority of the other F1 drivers stay there too.
I got to meet some interesting people over the race weekend too. Eric
Clapton waved the chequered flag at the end of the race, but he watched
qualifying from the AT&T Williams pit garage, which was pretty cool. Then I
saw loads of people on the grid, such as Macy Gray, Frankie Dettori and Rory
Bremner.
We now have a three-week gap in the calendar. This week I'm going to do lots
of training at home in Monaco, then I'll head to Barcelona next week for a
four-day test session of which I'm driving two days. We have various
mechanical and aerodynamic upgrades to try, all of which we hope will give
us more performance.
We will give those new parts a baptism of fire in the Spanish Grand Prix the
following weekend. Let's hope we can score more points in the race. |